A cold room devoid of any warmth, it was trary to the rest of the bs. Sure other offices were serious and uninviting in their presenbsp; Those in them were no-nonsense and focused strictly on a single goal. They were cold too, but they cked something that could be found within this room. This room had a purity to it that was unmatched and ruthless. It was truly frigid.
Isamu didn’t know why he had been called to the CEO’s offibsp; It was the first time that he had ever been asked to stand before the man. He might have run the pany, but there was a detached sort of presehe man had with his employees. Most people he would eventually see just through the halls, even if he never spoke to them or eveheir names. Yet, this man was never around, at least in the sense of being a visible head of the pany. He was a busy man for sure and still made all of the decisions on any projects that they carried out. For being so distant, he was more involved thahe managers and upper ma types that were supposed to be running things for him.
An odd tradi for sure, Isamu didn’t know what to make of him entirely. Aill hadn’t seen the man. A tall executive chair blocked the view of the man a strangely ominous presenbsp; But that quickly ged as it turo reveal a surprisingly young man buried within the leather. Isamu had to be ho, he knew about the man, but never actually looked too muto him. It wasn’t something that really bothered him. Knowing or not, the one in charge didn’t really ge his work. So he had a different image in mind before meeting the man.
“Mr. Hayashi,” the young man spoke in soft words that made him seem even younger. It made him question which of the two of them were the oldest. “I’ve heard nothing, but remarkable things about you.”
“Overstated I’d imagine, sir.”
The CEO stepped out of his chair and walked around his desk Isamu a seat. “Modest too. But it’s not overstating how much you’ve advanced our work since you’ve joined us.” Once Isamu sat down, he walked over to the window letting the sun wash over his fabsp; “In fact, you’ve bee a bit of an annoyao my daily routine.”
Now he was lost, not sure where the man was going. ‘Is he firing me for being too good at my job?’ Isamu wasn’t blind to the hat were jealous of his achievements. He had a target on his back at all times that he was careful to keep to a wall, though not always successful. This might have been his time. “Sir?”
Smiling back at Isamu, he dismissed the possible fears. “Most of the teams want you on their projebsp; It’s gotten to the point that I have a separate folder for all of the requests for you.”
‘I haven’t heard anything about requests. In fact, I’ve probably have the least amount of transfers. Why would he keep me on a specific project?’
g his hands together, he interrupted Isamu’s thoughts. “Enough about my personnel issues, you’re no doubt w why I’ve called you here.”
“Yes, sir.”
He retrieved a sealed folder from behind his desk and slid it over to Isamu. “You’ve impressed me and I’m rarely impressed.”
The folder itself was pletely normal and non-descript. In fact, Isamu had no clue what it tained as there was on it at all. Even the seal was pletely . “What is this, sir?”
“My hand.”
“Hand, sir?”
“In simple terms, it’s a promotion, but it’s much more than that.” Tilting his head back to the window, he looked out at the city stretched out before them. “Mr. Hayashi, why did you pieurological research as your field?”
It wasn’t something that he had thought about since he entered uy really. Even joining Toyama Labs was just something that happened because professors reended him, he didn’t start because it was his goal. “Part of it was me not thinking. I wao be able to help people. The other part of me saw the mind as somethiill know so little about. If I could use what I had been fortuo be born with to advance our uanding, maybe it could save people or improve their lives.”
“A typical answer. Do you still feel that way now?”
“Some days I do, some days the challenge is reward enough.”
“Then my offer to you is this. The ultimate challeh the greatest reward. The success of this project will pletely alter the field as you know it. Medical sce will advance by decades or turies and you’ll be able to save every life in our try.”
Isamu stared down at the folder suddenly feeling a strange weight from something so light. A lot of it didn’t make much sense, but there was siy in the words that couldn’t be mistaken. He believed it whole-heartedly and was pletely set oh. This must have been what made him such a focused and driven man to be a CEO already. It was strange. “Sounds like a dream.”
“A worthwhile dream. Think about it, the offer. If you wish to seek a higher challenge and truly test that which you were born with, this is your path. Think it over with your wife, this s her too.”
“Tomiko?”
“You aren’t the only one making a name for themselves in my pany. This is an offer to the both of you.”
“Then shouldn’t she be here too?”
“Your wife deed our meeting.”
‘She did? Why? Without even knowing what it was about.’
“Your wife’s a strong and proud woman. But she’s also talented as well. Tell her I don’t make su htly or without merit. I want both of you.”
Chapter 400 – Rewind 4
“How e you didn’t want to meet Mazawa?” Isamu asked Tomiko wheered the car. He waited until they were out of the building and alone. It wasn’t something that he wao discuss publicly knowing how the others were about him.
“He wasn’t firing me, so I didn’t have an i in what he had to say.”
He had doubts about that. Not even because of what the CEO said, he wasn’t blind to how she felt. There were times he wondered if she purposely requested a different team from him just to prove herself. She was the more positive and upbeat half to him, but Mazawa wasn’t wrong in saying that she rideful as well. “He wants both of us, not because you’re my wife. Haven’t you spent long enough in self isotion?”
“You don’t uand how hard I work to just prove I’m not getting special treatment. Any offer I take from him will undo everything I’ve built and worked on up until now!”
Isamu paused, having to take it all in for a moment. He knew she had been holding it in for a while. It just wasn’t something that could be easily approached. He could only let her tinue oh that she set determio show everyone h they were about her. “But everything you’ve done has bore fruit. This offer is proof of that! You earhis, it’s not just given to you.”
“That’s not how the others will see it.”
“When have you ever cared about how others see you or what they say behind your babsp; You’re strohan that.”
“I’m not always as strong as you think.”
He reached out over the gap to hold onto her. “Of course you are. It’s one of the many reasons I love you so mubsp; Don’t hold yourself ba the at of others. Take this if you want it.”
“We don’t even know what the project is.”
Suddenly, Isamu felt like there was something more about her refusing to see the boss. ‘Is she worried about the work? Even I don’t know what it is, he never expi. He only talked in flowery words about dreams.’ Isamu looked over at the sealed folder that he carried with him tempted to open it, but feeling opening it would it him to an unknown path. “Do you know something about this secret project?”
She shook her head, being as blind about things as him. “Nothing more thai of rumors. Most know there is woing on i, but even that has never been firmed until now. The most elite in the pany work on it, people that no one ever sees anymore.”
“Hey now, you make it sound nefarious. Sure it’s extremely well hidden, but it’s not unon to protect researbsp; And the way Mazaoke sounded ear.”
“Dear, everyone sounds earo you. You’re terrible at reading people.”
“That’s why I have you to tell me when I’m wrong,” he teased. He pulled the folder out from the back of the car and showed it to Tomiko. “If you think this is a bad idea I’ll tear it up right here and refuse him. I’ll trust your decision.”
“But you want to do this. You'll regret it if I tell you not to.”
“I’d rather regret not taking a ce, if it meant ign you.”
“You’re not being fair.”
“I’m serious. Don’t worry about me ahat cloud your judgment. I said before you’re here to tell me when I’m going wrong. If this is the wrong path I won’t take it.”
“But we don’t even know what it is. It’s just a feeling I have that something’s nht about it.” Isamu immediately ripped the folder in half before she could even stop him. “What are you doing?!”
“I already said I’d listen to what you decide. You’re not feeling right about it, we won’t do it. It’s simple.”
“But I could be wrong…”
“Do you believe you are?”
“I don’t know…” Tomiko fell silent with no more words for her husband. She remained withdrawn during the entire car ride back to their house. Even though he acted as he said he would, she still found it shog, even if it was normal for what he would do. She didn’t think he would close off a career path so quickly.
The night left her pensive and uo fun. Even though he made the decision based off her gut, she still thought about it. The whole thi off to her, but she didn’t know why. It fused her and worried her. She wao know what it was that left her feeling so ill at ease about the secret in the pany. It always lingered in the shadows as the dark part of the pany. Any pany had secrets, so this shouldn’t have been any different, but she never felt right about it. But it was never something that she could put a finger on. So she never acted on it.
She wao know. That much she felt certain about.
The m, Isamu walked through the waiting room of the CEO’s offibsp; He already had his words prepared for him, but they all flew out of his mouth when he opehe door to find Tomiko in there. “Tomiko?! What are you doing here?”
“Mr. Hayashi. I was just talking to your wife about some of the details of the assig.”
He quickly closed the gap trying to get over and uand what was happening. “Details? Assig?” Isamu looked down at Tomiko in the chair wanting to know what she was doing.
“That’s right. I leasantly surprised when she asked to speak with me in accepting my offer.”
“Accepting?” His eyes widened looking down at Tomiko in fusion. Something about things didn’t feel right to him. He couldn’t uand what would ge her mind in just a night.
“She said that you talked it over and agreed to accept the offer. So I’ve been filling her in a little on the project goals until you arrived. But now that you’ve e, there’s someohat I want you to meet.”
Things moved faster than he expected. ‘Someoo meet? The project lead?’ Isamu couldn’t find his curiosity as he worried over what a rash and out of character decision Tomiko made for the both of them. He could only stare at her wanting answers.
“Isamu, you should be looking forward. We’re about to meet the man that’s been aiding their research.”
“What is their research?”
“Mapping and recreating neural pathways.”
“That’s a fairly mundane subject for a top secret project.”
“I assure you, nothing about it is mundane,” a new voice spoke ing out from a side door into the offibsp; It wasn’t a voice that either of them knew, but it spoke with a deep resped and as though used to leading.
The CEO opehe door letting the stranger into the room. “Good timing, Mr. Ats. These are the two I was telling you about.”
Poi the couple, the filted his head to look over at the Hayashi’s. He smiled warmly at them, extending them both a hand of greeting. “Wele, you call me Ats. I’m going to show you to a new world that you’ve never seen before.”
“What world is that?”
“The world of the impossible. The pce I call home.”
Both of them found the fner’s words fusing and strange. For being a stific pursuit, this man before him seemed the least stifibsp; He almost didn’t seem to belong in the group. They both wondered what was going on and if the ight be getting ed here by the fner.
“I see you’re both suspicious. It’s not the sort of thing you uand without seeing. Behold what it is that you will be trying to find the ao that has eluded my people for millennia. What is the source of our power, the power of the Atnteans.” Suddenly the entire world ed and shifted, taking them to a vast open pin of green. “Wele to Atntis. I look forward t with you in finding all of the secrets lost to us.